VH-1:Behind the Comedy
Since the older generation have been good at commenting on posts (now we just need to get them good at posting on their own), I figure I would take the opportunity to clear up bits of Za lore.
Let's start with the Wheel of Doom.
When was it first performed? What was the inspiration? Was Fleetwood Mac involved (and why Fleetwood Mac)? Was Fleetwood Mac a euphemism for pot? Did the original performance include "a fistful of wafers" and "11 seconds of"? Was it performed in Tyler? Did you crawl through the window and single the lame Wheel of Doom song? Why not the Wheel of Random Skit generation?
[Note: Speaking of random number generation, one year we had a strangely weighted wheel and over the course of the show "Za Removes One Article of Clothing" came up five times. Kravis was down to his underwear. Maybe I should post a picture of that.]
Inquiring minds want to know.
Let's start with the Wheel of Doom.
When was it first performed? What was the inspiration? Was Fleetwood Mac involved (and why Fleetwood Mac)? Was Fleetwood Mac a euphemism for pot? Did the original performance include "a fistful of wafers" and "11 seconds of"? Was it performed in Tyler? Did you crawl through the window and single the lame Wheel of Doom song? Why not the Wheel of Random Skit generation?
[Note: Speaking of random number generation, one year we had a strangely weighted wheel and over the course of the show "Za Removes One Article of Clothing" came up five times. Kravis was down to his underwear. Maybe I should post a picture of that.]
Inquiring minds want to know.
posted by (d)avid at 11/16/2004 08:26:00 AM
17 Comments:
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I'm trying to think of odd Wheel of Doom entries.
Shave Dave's legs (won by Hat Boy)
Body Shots with Heather (won by Lana, giving Sean sweaty dreams for weeks thereafter)
Shave Felipe's Head (turns out he has a lumpy head)
Pete brings down the house (freestyle baby)
Sadly, backrub from Dave never came up.
Carsten does the butt-dance captured my imagination as a youth. I can't remember any other Wheel of Doom entries. I can think of plenty I would like to see:
Doorboy does your taxesJ-Ice kicks your assNo tongue date with SteveHow could you go wrong with that last one?
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More on the Wheel of Doom: Most notable about that Currier show was, as far as I know (Randy could confirm,), the beginning of the tradition traditiorum of Za, that being of a tradition formed in spite of itself. Like a canker lurking in the incipient bud of some Shakespearean rose, the two debuts of that show, the WOD and specific group nicknames both failed in their execution due to tech mishaps, themselves a tradition, and both went on to long afterlives, possibly, in true Viking fashion, as some perverse celebration of their cursed midwifery ("We've got to keep doing this -- we've got a tradition of mishaps to uphold, damnit!"). Not mentioned by the Wrecking Ball in his otherwise Homeric synopsis of the events of that baleful night was the fact that the Wheel itself was a rather abortionate affair, both ungainly and unlovely, a pulse-killing, show-devouring timesuck
that took forever to complete even the daintiest of spins and, at least once that night, landed on the same skit twice (Complaint Dept. I believe -- this was before skits were removed after being done).
This isn't to denigrate Randy and Dave's work on the WOD -- that's just the way it goes when you're forming traditions out of whole cloth, as we were unwittingly doing. Further passed over in the Wrecking Ball's retelling was the backdrop of Christmas lights attempting to spell out "DOOM", but actually just looking like Christmas in lights in some ambitious disarray, which is what they were (the anonymous taper of that show tried to underscore the menace that they didn't have by employing several headache-inducing high-speed zooms in and out, bless their headache-inducing hearts. We should be thankful for that tape, though, wherever it is, as it did manage to preserve for posterity (since Dave lost the original tape soon after the performance) a very faint segment of the, as Chris noted, triumphantly funny Wheel of Doom song -- but not before, of course, it captured the tape starting in the wrong place, providing the audience with 11 quite loud, if I remember, and unwelcome seconds of "She Caught the Katy" -- maybe that's where THAT tradition came from, Randall?)
My bicycle was the Wheel of Doom at least once. We had an audience member spin the wheel, spun the audience member around, and then had them apply the brake. Net result -- shorter spins (though some of the paper took gas).
Rich eats gefilte fish was a rather disgusting entry in the Wheel of Doom pantheon. The boy sure can slurp down a jar of gefilte fish like it is noone's business. Of course, the residents of Tyler were rather upset with the slimy mess it left on their carpet. Strangely, I think they were more upset that I cleaned it up with a kitchen sponge. Something about carpet rendering a kitchen sponge unusable or something. After a thorough tongue lashing, I decided to ditch the mess and take advantage of a Za groupie. That might explain why we were forced to perform the Wheel of Doom at Spencer the next year (1997).
Did the flight simulator ever come up? I'm not sure we ever put in on the wheel.
Za removes one article of clothing always struck me as the best gag -- but maybe that says a lot about me.
Harry Yoon.
The truly sad part is that the group tried to replicate Keith's moment at every Wheel of Doom during my tenure -- well, probably not senior year. My bicycle was black, but the wheel looked more slick than imposing. And I wasn't big on tradition. I'm sure the group did away any of my contributions the very next year. More humor, less pedagogy.
Dave and I supplied the vocals for the original Wheel theme, indeed recorded at CFM. We dubbed onto an a capella scat sort of track from a 1970's LP of 30-second backing tracks intended for public service announcements.
"She Caught the Katy" appeared in place of the "Peter Gunn Theme" (both on the Blues Brothers soundtrack), which was intended to underscore the entrance of the Commediandos. I believe the Wheel theme actually went off without a hitch. Certainly the escallating technical complexity of the next few openings was in direct response to this fiasco- getting back on the AV horse that threw us. Very Viking.
I think you're right about the window entry- the wheel was already on "stage," and had been otherwise surrounded by the crowd.
Other Wheel items- Za performs in your room (we actually had to do this) and Za performs on your answering machine (I don't think that one happened). Wasn't there a Date with Keith?
I remember the unavoidable problem incurred by the addition of creative/humiliating spaces to the wheel- the audience's clearly audible disappointment whenever a skit came up!
Goose, we totally sang the Nortion song.
Kravis might have said "It came on its own." He was into that type of thing. Fairly conservative type, respects tradition and all. No Birkenstocks on that boy.
I had totally forgotten Za performs in your room. I do recall that it came up once in the hazy mists of history. Is such an event the origins of the poster "I don't know who they are, but I wish they would leave?"
Yeah, who did we even take that weak-ass year? I remember taking Ben, Betsy, and Rob in the fall of 1997 (I think), and then I believe it was Elizabeth and Lucas in 1998? Am I forgetting someone? Didn't we almost take Sexrob one year?
I believe a similar situation presented itself back in the early 90s. Chris, Keith, and Toby were graduating and Ray Cashman was taking a junior year abroad. They had accepted four freshman into the group (Jason, Julie, John, and Sean). The next year, Ray came back to find himself in charge of four hyperactive sophomores he didn't know.
Someone should correct me on this if I am mistaken. I wasn't there or anything. I was still a tight jean wearing mullethead from Nebraska dreaming of buying a Camaro. Jeff McMahon was still in diapers and drooling on himself. He was fourteen, but we never commented on his lack of toilet training when I was in the group. It would be kind of mean.
Who the hell is SexRob? Sounds scary, but somewhat dangerous and tantalizing.
SexRob was exactly as Ben describes, except that to truly envision him you have to imagine the hellish drop of a union between Rodney Dangerfield and a female Muppet. He was a goofy but good-natured guy who must have been excessively horny when he tried out for the group in his freshman year.
Tangentially, he was less annoying than Patchen Mortimer '00, who was also a reject. He was the guy who joined the BGLTU and at some point had to leave it when he "came out" to the group as straight.
What the hell did Patchen do? All I remember is that he scared me? Since he would have been the same cohort as Sadru and Magary, maybe they remember.
In response to the blog, I have listened to "Tusk" several times. I cannot see why someone would yell "This is the best song ever! Why haven't I heard it before?" There are many Za songs I understand, but "Tusk" is not one of them. It sounds like half-assed Pink Floyd.
Are the lyrics supposed to be haunting? Are the drums and background noises supposed to be primal? It sounds like a decent soundtrack song for a Terry Gilliam movie, but I don't see the appeal beyond that. I like Fleetwood Mac as much as the next guy, but this song does not rank as one of their best. However, since it appears on the "Best of Fleetwood Mac" I am willing to believe that I am mistaken. What is the appeal? I'm a good listener and will relisten with the factors in mind.
Jason are you thinking of the skit, Talk Show? The one with a host, a guest who has done something amazing, but speaks gibberish so requires an interpreter? Does that describe the "Jason Fogler Show?"
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